Lost and Found (and lost again)
by Dernhelm from the East
Summary: A mysterious lady is wandering between dimensions looking for someone. A continuation of 'Past and Present'.
1. Chapter 1

Between thousands and thousands of dimensions, an old woman was wandering. If you were lucky enough, you would meet her one day.

She looked like a crone, but if you came close to her, you could see she wasn't as old as she seemed to be at first sight. She wrapped herself in a shapeless cloak, but it couldn't hide her chiseled figure. Her hair wasn't grey; it just had a strange bluish hue only faeries from wonderland may have. Her face kept marks of all difficulties and sufferings she had met but still was beautiful. And her eyes were so filled with sadness and grief, which made her look thousand years older.

"I am looking for a girl." Her voice was calm and quiet, and yet there were notes of begging and despair. "She is full of magic, rainbows, and giggles. Her eyes are like the sky in the spring. Her hair is like mellow wheat. Her smiles are warmer than sunshine. Did you see this girl?"

"Who is she?" the wanderer had been asked many times. And every time she had frowned and shook her head, but her memory had continued to betray her. "I… I don't know," she had said with a distracted smile. "The only thing I know I need to find her. So, did you meet her?"

But nobody she had spoken with couldn't help. She nodded with understanding, but the pain in her heart went deeper. She left and went to another city, kingdom, dimension. And everyone she had asked about her loss felt a strange mix of sadness and bliss. No one who had met her doubt she was a mighty creature. Powerful and yet grieved.

The wanderer had lost a count of days years ago. The road between the universes had become her only life. And she had never asked herself - how she did that? Who was the girl she was looking for so hard? Did her traveling worth all suffering? She had never asked because she had not need answers. There was the thing she must have done.

And once her road had led her to a bank of a lake filled with molten lava. Black sand burned her bare feet, but she didn't mind pain. She walked and continued her perpetual search.

"Excuse me," she noticed a local. "Could you help me? I am looking for a girl. She is full of magic, rainbows, and giggles. Her eyes…"

The local listened to a description and scratched his horned head. "Well… it seems to be our princess."

"Princess?" A spark of hope lit up in her heart. It was something she had known before.

"Oh, yes. Full of magic, and rainbows, and fire, and what else you said? Giggles, right."

"What is her name? How could I find her?" she asked ready to move already.

"Princess Susan. She lives in the castle. Where else could she live?" her collocutor answered.

"S-s-ssss," she tasted this name. There was something familiar in it.

"On the other hand," he continued thoughtfully, "it couldn't be our Susan. Her eyes are purple, not blue, and the hair is more pinkish than blond, and she isn't very into smiles. Rather smirks."

The spark in the lady's heart died out.

"Right. She isn't that girl I am looking for," the wanderer said tiredly. "Thank you for your concern."

"You welcome," he nodded. Then the demon noticed how sad the wanderer was and add, "Cheer up, ma'am. You'll find that gal, I bet."

For the first time in years, she smiled.

"Thank you once more."

"Hey, if you're looking for the blonde girl, you should visit…" he turned away for a moment, but when he looked at the lady, she had gone.

"Strange," the local thought and shrugged. He returned to his own business and almost forgot about this unusual conversation.

* * *

 _A/N: I haven't decided yet if Moon and Star should meet or not. What do you think?_


	2. Chapter 2

Rumors about a mysterious lady noticed on a beach spread like wildfire. Just a few days later they reached a royal palace.

"Who did he see? How did she look like?" the Queen was almost screaming. A maid had decided to share a fresh gossip with her mistress and now was horrified by an unexpected reaction.

"I… don't know… I've just heard about it… she was old, wore a cape or something like that, had a bluish grey hair, and disappeared suddenly. That's all, I swear!"

"Fine," the Queen pinched the bridge of her nose. "Now go. Call the equerry. Call the houndmaster. I leave immediately."

Star felt she was closer than ever to find her mother.

She went alone, riding a fierce warnicorn and leading a pack of hellhounds. The Queen was armored only with a pair of dimensional scissors with her name on it. She could take the whole court with her, but she couldn't let herself waste any minute. Besides, it was something she should do alone.

The hellhounds took a trace quickly, and now Star chased them. But then they stopped and started to howl, looking around an empty place. She was ready for this scenario. The Queen took the scissors and opened a portal. The hellhounds run in it readily, and Star followed them.

They jumped to another dimension, and the situation repeated. Star used her scissors one more time. She admitted how fast her mother (she was sure what that lady was Moon) moved like something made her do it. The Queen had already lost a count of dimensions they had visited. Were there ten dimensions? Or maybe there were twenty of them? Star just clenched her fists and spurred her warnicorn, urging him to hurry up.

Another jump, another dimension. Star found herself standing on a road in an autumn forest. Her hellhounds were far ahead, and she noticed anticipation in their barking. The Queen needed to outrun them. Her stallion was running as fast as he could, and soon Star saw a lonely figure wandering among the trees. Her pack was coming close to it.

"Stop! Stop right now!" she yelled at them. The hellhounds stopped and looked at her with a grievance, but she didn't care. Something more important had happened; the wandering figure had stopped too and turned around, waiting for her.

Star dismounted and went to the wanderer. Her hands were shaking slightly. She peered at the lady ahead, trying to understand was her searching successful or nor. And with every new step, she found familiar features in the stranger's look.

The last few yards she almost ran. It was Moon herself, in flesh and blood. Star hugged her tightly. For a while, she couldn't say anything.

"Oh my gosh, I found you!" Star whispered, at last, breaking a hug.

Moon looked at her confused, and said: "I'm terribly sorry, but could you help me? I'm looking for a girl…"

Star listened to her with shock. Her bottom lip started to tremble.

"Mom!" she said with tears in her voice, "Don't you recognize me? It's me, Star! Your daughter!"

"Star?" Moon repeated, and Star noticed changes in her expression. "I have heard this name before."

"Yes, you have," Star persuaded. She let her hair down and tried to smile as wide as she had done in the days of her youth. "See? Try to remember me, please!"

Moon carefully touched her daughter's locks. "Mellow wheat," she admitted, and Star's heart skipped a beat. "They were longer."

"They were," tears rolled down Star's cheeks, but she smiled. "But it's just hair. It will grow again. Oh, mommy, what happened to you? Where have you been? I was trying to find you all this time!"

"I was looking for a girl," Moon's hand gently stroke Star's cheek, wiping her tears. "But it seems I was doing it for too long. You have had time to grow up. Could you… could you tell me about you? And about me?"

Star giggled hysterically and sat right on the ground, offering Moon to do the same.

"Well, it will be a long story. You should better get comfortable…"

She was telling about what had happened, starting with the moment Moon had disappeared in the Realm of Magic, and observing her mom's reaction. She seemed to be unfazed, but sometimes Star noticed some recognition in her eyes. There was a good sight.

"...And here I have found you, after all these years. Oh, mommy, I'm so glad to see you again!" Star hugged Moon, and she returned the hug. "We need to tell dad! He would be sooooo happy! I bet he'll throw a party and invite the whole kingdom!"

"Star," the woman said at last, "would you come with me?"

"Of course!" beamed Star. "I don't miss that a chance to see your reunion with him!"

"No, I mean not the party," Moon sighed. "You described the whole life I wasn't part of. And, if I understood you correctly, I have neither kingdom to rule, nor homeland. I think it would be better if I continue my wandering. So… would you join me?"

"I… I can't," her daughter's smile faded. Star looked at her mother, and couldn't believe her ears. Faces of Tom and their children popped up before her eyes. She couldn't leave them. She couldn't let her mother disappear again either.

Star kept silence, trying to find the right decision. Moon looked at her with sadness and stood up.

"Wait, are you going to go already?" Star screamed frightenedly, grabbing Moon's hand. Years being of a Queen, a wife, a mother, had been forgotten. She felt she became a little girl, scared of possibly losing her mother again. "What about dad?"

"Oh, I will visit him," she was surprised with her daughter's reaction. "I barely remember him though it could change after the meeting."

"And what about Mewni? You should be the Queen again! People love you more than Eclipsa!"

"Star," Moon said with the slight change in her voice. She straightened out, and for the first time looked not like a tired woman but as a noble enchantress. "You know better than me, who the true ruler of Mewni is. Never choose between the pleasant and the right. I'm sure some people want to see me on the throne again, and I'm sure some people don't. I can't allow the civil war to begin. Can you?"

"No," whispered Star shocked. Even in rags, her mother looked more like a queen than Star ever would. "But why can't you stay with me? We're looking for each other for so long! It's not fair!"

Moon gave her daughter a sad smile. "Because it's your life, not mine."

Star started to cry. Was it all in vain, and would she lose her mother again?

"Hush," Moon gently kissed daughter's forehead, comforting her. Star felt as six hands wiped her tears, caressed her face and stroked her hair. "My dear, you've forgotten one important thing."

"What?" Star opened her eyes and saw her mother in her majestic butterfly form. She looked more like a goddess than just a former Queen of Mewni.

"I know where to find you now."


End file.
